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This simple Thai-inspired Peanut Pork melts in the mouth and is all cooked in one pan, with the oven doing most of the work. The pork is slow-cooked until it’s fall-apart tender, in a delicious sauce packed with Thai-inspired flavours and finished off with fresh beansprouts and coriander. It’s perfect comfort food as the evenings are getting cooler.
“I made this yesterday and it was really really good! With the exception of the pork and the beansprouts I already had all the other ingredients.
I love how the pork is so soft but has so much flavour with the delicious blend of other ingredients. There’s enough sauce to soak into the rice. I’m not a huge fan of beansprouts so when I make this again I might not bother with them, but that’s not a criticism at all of the recipe, just me being fussy. Thanks again for a brilliant dinner for us and for my mum’s freezer.”
Nicky’s Notes
I’ve been making this Thai-style peanut pork since 2017, and it’s still one of my favourite cosy, slow-cooked dinners. It’s all made in one pan, with the oven doing most of the work, and there’s plenty of rich, creamy sauce to soak into the rice.
This is a Thai-inspired recipe rather than a traditional Thai dish. It combines coconut milk, peanut butter, fish sauce and lime with gently warming spices to create a savoury, slightly tangy sauce.
Pork shoulder is important here. The fat running through the meat slowly renders as it cooks, leaving the pork beautifully tender and juicy. A leaner cut, such as pork tenderloin, would dry out during the long cooking time.
The exact cooking time can vary depending on the size of the pork pieces. Start checking after 90 minutes, the pork is ready when it pulls apart easily with a fork. Keep an eye on the sauce during the final hour too, adding a splash of water if it becomes too thick.
I add the lime juice and beansprouts near the end so the lime stays fresh and tangy while the beansprouts retain a little crunch.
Table of Contents
📋 What do we need?
***Full recipe with detailed quantities in the recipe card below***
Note on the pork
I find that pork shoulder works really well in this dish as it has nice fat running through it which renders down as it’s cooking and becomes really tender and juicy.
🧑🍳 Abbreviated Recipe
***Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card below***
- First of all we’re searing the pork shoulder in the pan.
- Then we’re adding an onion and some spices along with garlic and ginger.
- Next we’re adding in those Thai inspired flavours with the Coconut Milk, Peanut Butter, Lime and Fish Sauce.
- Bring to a simmer and place the lid on
- Cook in the oven at 170c/325f for 90-120 minutes.
- Finish off by adding some lime juice and fresh beansprouts
Pro Tips
I like to use a heavy cast-iron casserole dish for this recipe.
Whilst not exactly diet food, this Thai Style Peanut Pork is homecooked and extra tasty, the slow-cooked pork is beautifully tender and mouthwatering.
Top with some fresh chillis and coriander before serving and everything will be ok with the world again.
It’s a lovely comforting dish to look forward to after a long day at work (and leftovers, warmed up in the office microwave is the best idea ever!).
I was looking at the recipes on Kitchen Sanctuary that are proving to be most popular at this time of year – and they ALL seem to be meaty, slow-cooked comfort food type dishes like:
So it seems like you guys are with me on this, its time for slow-cooked comfort food 🙂
🍽️ What to serve it with
I like to serve this delicious Thai peanut pork with boiled rice, steamed tenderstem broccoli, and a dollop of Sweet Chilli Sauce but it would also go well:
- with some homemade fried rice , or
- As a filling for a jacket potato or is that a bit weird?
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📺 Watch how to make it
Thai Style Peanut Pork Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 kg (2.2 lbs) diced lean pork shoulder
- 1 onion peeled and chopped
- 2 tbsp. ground coriander
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp garlic salt
- 300 ml (1 1/4 cups) chicken/veg stock use vegetable bouillon for gluten-free
- 400 ml (14 oz) can full-fat coconut milk
- 2 heaped tbsp peanut butter check if you need it to be gluten-free, it usually is though
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- juice of 1 lime
- 100 g (1 cup) beansprouts these can be fresh, or canned beansprouts that have been drained
To Serve:
- boiled rice
- fresh coriander cilantro – roughly torn
- green chillies I use Fresno chillies, chopped
- chili flakes
- steamed tenderstem broccoli (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170C/325F (fan), then heat the oil in a large casserole pan on a high heat until hot.1 tbsp sunflower oil
- Add the pork, and brown on all sides – takes about 6-8 minutes.1 kg (2.2 lbs) diced lean pork shoulder
- Turn down to a medium heat and add the onions. Cook for 5 minutes, moving around the pan regularly, until the onions soften.1 onion
- Add the coriander, cumin, ginger, and garlic salt and stir.2 tbsp. ground coriander, 1 tbsp ground cumin, 1 tsp ground ginger, ¼ tsp garlic salt
- Add the stock, coconut milk, peanut butter, and fish sauce. Stir and bring to a gentle simmer.300 ml (1 1/4 cups) chicken/veg stock, 400 ml (14 oz) can full-fat coconut milk, 2 heaped tbsp peanut butter, 2 tbsp fish sauce
- Then place a lid on the pan and place in the oven to cook for 90 minutes to 2 hours until the pork falls apart tender. NOTE: Check a couple of times in the last hour, if it's looking a little dry then you can stir in a splash of water.
- Once the pork is tender, remove from the oven and stir in the lime juice, then add the beansprouts.juice of 1 lime, 100 g (1 cup) beansprouts
- Stir and place back in the oven for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and stir. Serve over boiled rice, garnished with fresh coriander. Add some chopped fresh chillies and/or dried chilli flakes if you like a bit of heat.boiled rice, fresh coriander, green chillies, chili flakes, steamed tenderstem broccoli
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This post was first published in January 2017. Updated Sept 2021 with new photos, improvements to the recipe, a video showing the process. Updated March 2022 for housekeeping reasons.
🇹🇭 More Thai Inspired Recipes
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Delicious! Real hit in the house. I also added chili in the sauce and as I had less meat that stated added carrots and greens.
I love this recipe!!! I also use my pressure cooker pot for this recipe. Makes the cook faster.
I tweeted a few items:
Doubled the “sauce” ingredients
Made entirely stove top – cooked for 1/2 hour
Added the chilli peppers to cook with the sauce
Turned out AMAZING!!!
Bookmarked this sight! Excellent recipes!
Your instruction is to sear “diced” pork shoulder until it falls. Diced seems a little small for that. Confused.
Can this dish be cooked in a slow cooker ?
I found this recipe by doing a search for recipes to use leftover pork tenderloin. However, that is not mentioned in the recipe. I assume I can use the leftovers and simply reduce the over all cooking time? Thoughts?
I made this yesterday and it was really really good! With the exception of the pork and the beansprouts I already had all the other ingredients.
I love how the pork is so soft but has so much flavour with the delicious blend of other ingredients. There’s enough sauce to soak into the rice. I’m not a huge fan of beansprouts so when I make this again I might not bother with them, but that’s not a criticism at all of the recipe, just me being fussy.
Thanks again for a brilliant dinner for us and for my mum’s freezer.